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Movement
Moving is primarily done in terms of changing speed - the number of units a ship can move in its turn - and direction. These two factors are controlled by the engines and thrusters, respectively. As explained in the systems page, the larger a ship is, the more power it will need to put into these two systems to change speed and heading effectively. To begin the game, assume that all ships begin at a dead stop - all ships' speed stat would therefore be 0. The engines govern the maximum amount a ship may accelerate or decelerate per turn - a small ship with 4 points of engines could increase or decrease its speed by 4 units, while a medium ship would need 8 points of engines to achieve a similar result. The primary reason speed is recorded is because the game considers momentum (albeit in a rudimentary way.) If a ship is not accelerating or decelerating, it must move as many units from its current position as its current speed - a ship cannot stop and hold position until it has reduced its speed to 0. Before a ship is moved in the play area, its commander must decide how much (if at all) to change its speed. As stated previously, ships may move in several short moves or one long one, so long as they do not move more total units than their current speed allows. Ships may only accelerate or decelerate as much as their current movement stat and can only change speed at the beginning of their movement, once per round. Ships may also not end their movement overlapping - ie, underneath or above - any other ship. For game purposes, anytime this happens, the two ships are considered to have rammed into one another. (See Combat rules for how to resolve ramming and collisions.) Ships with FTL drives may also jump across the play area, ignoring all obstacles. There are, of course, some limitations - ships cannot jump in the first three rounds of a game, can only jump once every X turns, (where X is the ship's class number,) and may not jump so that the ship is overlapping or colliding with another object when it arrives. To jump, make sure that the FTL drive may be used, and consult the page on FTL drives for the maximum distance that can be traveled. If the fleets are split into groups, each group must move once per round. Player order is the same; players with fewer groups are simply skipped later in the round. Ships may dock with other ships, but have to match speed and heading with friendly ships and must be close enough to touch. While docked, the ship with the higher movement stat can tow both ships according to its normal movement. Ships may not use their FTL while docked, however. When docking with an enemy ship, once the two ships are within a unit of touching, find the difference in the two ships speeds in units per round and then add 2 points for every 45 degrees difference in the two ships' headings. For example, if one ship was moving North at 4 units/round and another ship was moving West at 6 units/round, the speed difference is 2 and the 90 degrees difference is 4, making the total 6. The ship making the boarding attempt then rolls 1d6 - if roll is equal or greater to the number previously calculated, the boarding may proceed. (See Combat rules for how to resolve a boarding action.) If it is less than the number calculated, the boarding fails and the boarding ship takes the difference between the roll and the calculated number in damage to the hull. (If this is confusing to you, see the Example Game to see how a boarding scenario would play out.) Category:Rules Category:Movement